Church Picnic

We were up early and got to Cathy and Jerry's place an hour early so we could enjoy the landscaping.  It was a very nice place for the church service, I videoed it so I had to do a screen capture from the video for this picture.

There was lots of awesome food.  Right after taking this picture I hit the dessert table since there was no line there and had my dessert first.  I came back later and had a plate from this side with a few more desserts.  I was really full then and didn't have any dinner this evening.

There was a pretty good turn out, but they thought maybe some people didn't come because it was forecast to be in the high nineties.

Cathy and Jerry have done a great job on their place.  This is a walkway along a little ravine with a viewing area that extends over the edge.

This is part of the three quarter mile trail below the viewing area, it goes down to the Toutle River and then back up to their house.  After the picnic we helped load the chairs into the trailer and took them back to the church.  By the time everything was unloaded it was getting pretty warm and the AC at home felt great!

I got everything hooked up today on the P-39, pumped up the air system and retracted the landing gear.  There are just a few minor things to finish and it will be ready to fly.

Picnic Setup

I had a call Friday from Fred that they needed some help moving tables and chairs for the church picnic on Sunday.  Since I had the trailer hooked up I volunteered it, we were able to load all the chairs into it and the tables went in a van.

The couple who were hosting the picnic had a beautiful place and everyone enjoyed the views after we unloaded.  I spent the rest of the day working on the P-39.

Flying at Faro Field

I had a call from Steve yesterday while I was up on the roof that they were flying today at Faro Field.  We went up the Westside Hwy. to Vader and then took the Winlock Vader Rd to Winlock.  We took 603 out of Winlock and found out they are still working on the road straightening out some curves.  We were the only vehicle behind the Pilot Car and it took a while to get through the 1.6 miles.  We were stopped several times while equipment worked and the Pilot Car driver hung some signs.  Since we weren't in a rush it was kind of fun.

We were the first ones at the flying field and I got in three flights before anyone else showed up.

I had the GoPro taking pictures during the first flight, the motor home will not fit through the covered bridge so we had to come across the field and over a bridge that is at the right side of the picture.

Leonard was shooting touch and goes with his Vortex delta that look so good that I may have to see about getting myself one that is electric powered.  There were seven of us there today and we had a great time flying and visiting.  James came up after we got home so we could check on a small issue with his car.

Roof

I spent most of Wednesday getting setup to work on the roof above our bathroom where there was a leak last winter.

Right after breakfast I finished the setup and got started on the roof .

It was pretty comfortable on the roof this morning and I got most of the roofing pulled up and thrown into the trailer.  I found a couple of spots where the plywood needs replacing.  After lunch we hooked the trailer to the Blazer and took the shingles to Waste Control.  Then we went over to Home Depot, got the plywood and a couple of vent covers I needed.

We had a fun visit from Ava, Bridget and Jillian this afternoon.

Deer and RC Trucks

Vera noticed this deer out the kitchen window this morning while fixing breakfast.  It waited until I took couple of pictures then went over and browsed on the salmonberry bush.

I repaired the SE-5 that had blown off the table a couple of weeks ago and worked on the P-39 until it was time to go run Trucks at Ken's in Chehalis.  The North bound traffic on I5 was still bad so we went Westside to get there.  It took Barry nine and a half hours to get home from Walla Walla because of the traffic which turned out to be caused by a three hundred acre brush fire at Grand Mound that was right by the freeway.  There were six of us running trucks and we had a great time.  As you can see from the picture there were lots of wrecks.  If you could get through the first corner you had a pretty good chance of finishing our four lap races.

Eclipse and Flying at Brady

We went to church Sunday and then spent most of the day getting ready for a trip to Brady to fly with Leonard and Audrey on Monday.

We had planned on watching the eclipse at the Brady flying field but when we got to Oakville there were low clouds so we turned around and went back to Rochester where it was clear and parked in the Highway 12 Diner parking lot.

It was a nice spot with only one other car there watching.

I tried a few pictures with the filters out of my welding hood but they were not very clear.

I cut one of our Eclipse viewing glasses in two and taped it to the Nikon lens with black electrical tape and the pictures started looking much better.

I could see sun spots after I got the camera set the way I wanted it.  I used manual focus, exposure and shutter speed.

This is the last picture I got as the camera battery died right after it and the extra battery was dead also.

I had mounted the GoPro camera in my Super Cub and took pictures and video every time I flew it.  This is what the runway looks like.  The brown area under the plane is a pea field that has been harvested, to the left is a corn field with corn that must be about eight feet tall.

Not all my landings turned out perfect, but no damage was done.

Of course Vera got a picture of me turning it over.

I worked hard on the next landing and it turned out great!

I was pretty darn happy after that landing.

The sun shades got lots of use today, there were eight of us there.  The weather really cooperated as the winds were light all day.

Some one had crashed in a tree across the road and left the plane there.  Vera, John, Leonard, Audrey and Ken went over and looked for it in the tree.  John went back later and found this much on the ground.

The corn got one plane when the flap linkage came loose on take off.  It was pretty exciting for a few seconds but no real damage was done.

We went home via Jackson Hwy and kept meeting lots of cars. Normally we will only meet a couple for the whole route.  When we got to Exit 57 we could see why, all the Eclipse traffic headed back North was just crawling along.

We met lots of traffic on Barnes Drive as well and when we got to Exit 52 we could see lots of rigs getting off I-5 and going up Barnes Drive.

This is looking North from Exit 52, a lot of the problem was probably the change down to two lanes up by the rest areas.  We were sure glad we were headed South all afternoon.  It was a long and busy day, but it was sure worth it.

More visitors

I took Cora over to the Play Fort this morning where the girls were playing.  Harper was driving the Jeep so I put Cora in and asked Harper to take her for a ride.  It went OK for a little while but she got scared, I picked her up and she settled right down.

She was toddling around the house in her new tennies, it wasn't long before we had everything breakable moved up out of her reach.

Debbie and Josh brought Jordon down so Jackie could see him and Vera got in a little baby time.

He woke up for a few minutes and I got several pictures with his eyes open.

Everyone got a turn at holding Jordon.  Boy can six pounds get heavy after a little while, my thumb went to sleep while I was holding him.

Cora was keeping an eye on the little guy.

Vera with Cora as they were getting ready to leave.  Jackie took one of Vera, Cora and I but Cora was not liking it and never cooperated.

Jackie wanted a family photo, this is the one I like the best.  They left a little later for a friend's wedding near Elma.

P-39 and Cora

I started masking the canopy first thing this morning.  It took quite a while to get it done the way I wanted and then I started painting.  The color match between the monokote and paint isn't perfect but I will never notice it as goes by at ninety miles an hour.

Jackie, Chris and Cora came this evening to spend the weekend.  Cora is sure a cutie, I got her into a game of catch and she can throw pretty good.

P-39

OK, I finally got back to the P-39 on Tuesday and started covering the front half of the fuselage.  The picture is when I quit tonight.

Also on Tuesday James stopped by to borrow the vacuum cleaner and clean up the back seat where a dog had laid.  I had a visit from Doug to see if I could figure out why the motor in his glider wouldn't run.  After some checking it turned out the problem was programming in the transmitter.

Wednesday I had a dentist appointment at 9:00 in the morning for a filling.  After that was over I went to Baker Lumber and picked up the materials to repair a leak in the roof.  I spent the rest of the day working on the P-39's covering and experimenting with paint to use on the wing fillets.  Just one more piece of covering and the fuselage will be covered.  Then I have to do the hatch/canopy area.  We finished the day watching the latest episodes of Battle Bots and American Ninja Warrior.

A visit from Jordon

Barry and Mona left this morning on the way to Idaho to watch the eclipse.  I made a recycling run today and then spent most of the rest of the day puttering and cleaning in the shop.  At about six, Debbie, Josh and Jordon showed up for a short visit.  He is so darn cute and strong, he can roll to his side already.

Debbie is holding Jordon just before feeding him.  He started fussing while Vera was holding him and they said that was his hungry cry.

He was in a better mood when I got to hold him and he has a pretty good grip on my finger.  All too soon it was time for them to head home, they had a big day in Portland and everyone was tired.